Ladislas Kijno (1921-2012) - Composition

Ladislas Kijno (born June 27, 1921 in Warsaw and died November 27, 2012 in Saint-Germain-en-Laye) was a French painter. He settled in 1925 in Nœux-les-Mines (Pas-de-Calais). He lived, since the 1980s, in Saint-Germain-en-Laye, near Paris, where he died thirty years later.

He is a major figure in the Art Informel movement.

After a childhood in a modest background, Ladislas Kijno studied philosophy, notably with Jean Grenier, and then frequented Germaine Richier’s studio in the post-World War II era. Based in the Île-de-France region since the late 1950s, he has, over the decades, pursued spray painting and has established himself as one of the masters of the so-called froissage technique.

His meeting with Louis Aragon and Francis Ponge in 1943 also led him to work extensively in collaboration with poets. Countless tributes populate his creations: Nicolas de Staël, Nelson Mandela, Galileo, and then Gagarin; but also the struggles alongside the Algerian and Vietnamese peoples, as well as Tahiti, China, and Easter Island.

Kijno participated in the Venice Biennale in 1980. In the 1990s, he worked on the rose window of the portal of Notre-Dame de la Treille in Lille. It will be completed nine years later…

In 1991, an issue of the art magazine L'Amateur d'art is devoted in part to him, notably including an interview with Jean-Pierre Thiollet, entitled: 'Ladislas Kijno: I am a monk of Art!'.

Lille Centre for Contemporary Sacred Art
In 1996, Kijno suggested to Monsignor Vilnet, the Bishop of Lille, the idea of dedicating this 'modern' part of the crypt to an exhibition space for contemporary works on the theme of the Passion of Christ. Seven years later, the Centre for Sacred Contemporary Art comes into being, thanks to the support of the regional council and the association for the Renovation of the Treille site, which gave rise to the current façade, hosting around fifty works from the Delaine collection.

Inaugurated on December 7, 2003, the day after the official launch of Lille 2004, the European Capital of Culture, and as part of the celebration – anniversary – of the 90th anniversary of the Diocese of Lille, it will welcome a number of leading figures in contemporary art: Georg Baselitz, Lucio Fontana, Robert Combas, Kijno, or Andy Warhol.

Works in public collections:

Donation Ladislas Kijno, Nœux-les-Mines ;
Community of Communes of Nœux and Surroundings ;
National Museum of Modern Art (Beaubourg);
National Museum of Modern Art of the City of Paris ;
Picasso Museum of Antibes;
Paul Valery Museum, Sète ;
Fine Arts Museums of Lille, Le Havre, Dunkirk and Marseille;
Maeght Foundation;
Fine Art Museums of Algiers, Dresden, Santiago, Chile, Beijing, Caserta and Tahiti;
Pierre-Noël Museum of Saint-Dié-des-Vosges ;
Peter Stämpfli Foundation / Contemporary Art in Sitges, Catalonia.